University Honors Program university of south Florida st. Petersburg, Florida cert~cate 1Ayyrov al Honors Thesis This is to certify that the honors thesis of nyna shuvit has been ayyroved by the thesis committee on AUgust 24, 2001 as satisfactory for the thesis requirement for the university Honors Program Thesis committee: committee Member:\vtctor Peyyard, Ph.D. THE UKRAINIAN COSSACKS by nyna shuvit A thesis submitted in fo~llment of the requirements for the university Honors Program university of south Florida August, 2001 Thesis Advisor: Golfo Alexoyolous, Ph.D. Thesis committee Members: John Belohlavek, Ph.D. Victor Peyyard, Ph.D. TABLE OF CONTENTS PART ONE: History ofUkrainian Cossacks I. Chapter One: Genesis of Cossackdom A. Menace of Golden Horde B . Polish oppression ll. Chapter Two: Zaporozhian Cossacks A. The origin of the name "cossack" B. Zaporozhian Sich C. Cossack's wars with Turks and Tatars Ill. Chapter Three: Prominent Cossacks' leaders. Hetman State and Sovereign Ukraine. A. Cossacks' early rebellions B. Bohdan Khmelnitsky and Cossack State C. Mazepa and the Constitution of Zaporozhe Host IV. Chapter Four: Demise of Cossack Ukraine A. Cultural level of Cossack State B. Incorporation of Cossack Ukraine PART TWO: Image of Zaporozhian Cossacks I. Romanticized image of Cossacks ll. Controversial image of Cossacks ill. Self-representation of Cossacks in Ukrainian folklore LIST OF FIGURES Zaporozhian winter village ..... ..................................................... 6 Cossacks boats in battle .............................................................6 Map 1. Cossack State, 1651 ................. .. ..................................... 14 1 Map 2. Russian expansion in the 18 h century ...................... ........ .... .. 19 "Zaporozhian Cossacks Writing a Letter to the Turkish Sultan" .. ............. 24 Zaporozhian Cossacks' Letter to the Turkish Sultan ....................... ..... 24 Cossack Mamai with two women ............................................... ... 25 A Cossack fighting Tatars ....... ... ... ... ... .. ..... ........... ...... .......... ......29 Dmitro Vishnevetsky - Baida .... .. ............................. ................... 30 The Ukrainian Cossacks "A perpetual fear, a perpetual danger inspired them with a contempt towards life." M. Gogol in "Taras Bulba" Who are those who defended the city gates ofVienna from the Turkish invasion of 1683? Who founded the first democratic state according to Karl Marx? What historical figure in this group honors with his name an airport in Paris? The group was known as the Ulcrainian Cossacks - both a controversial and important group in Ulcraine and Eastern Europe. And the historical figure is Pylyp Orlyk, the founder of the first Ukrainian Constitution in 1709. Who were the Cossacks? Although their defmition ranges from freebooters and Turkish renegades, to unruly brutes and murderers, to Ulcrainian freedom fighters, they were definitely a force and left a long-lasting impact over the centuries. The focus of my thesis is on the undeniable power and influence ofUlcrainian Cossacks upon the entire region of Eastern Europe and the fate of Turkish invasion of all of the Europe. Cossacks' actions created many controversial images from the differing points of view of their neighbors: "fearless warriors, unmatched in their military skills" in the eyes of Cossacks enemies - Turks and Tatars; "cruel and vicious villains" in the Polish and Jewish perspectives; and "glorified freedom lovers and fighters" in the heart of any Ukrainian. The fact that those, rather vivid and strongly felt images of Cossacks exist is very proof of the Cossacks' powerful influence. The first chapter of my thesis acquaints a reader with historical events that evoked and furthered the genesis of Cossackdom in Ukraine, while the second part discusses the existing images and portrayals of Cossacks in Ukrainian, Russian and Polish folklore. 2 History of Ukrainian Cossacks Chapter One: Genesis of Cossackdom From its earliest history, Ukraine, situated on the direct route from southern Asia to the heart of Europe, was crossed by countless invaders. In that vast frontier, which in 1 the 16 h century was referred to as okraina - the land on the periphery of the civilized world- the age-old struggle ofthe sedentary population against the nomads flared up 1 with intensity, fueled by the bitter confrontation between Christianity and Islam • In the year of 1240 Kievan Rus', once a flourishing Christian state, which had had ties with Alfred's England and the glittering Byzantium ofthe Emperors, had fallen to a horde of Tatar horsemen. For two hundred years not only Ukraine but all of Eastern Europe lived under the terrible menace of the Golden Horde. Year after year the swift raiding parties ofTatars swept down on the towns and villages to pillage, kill the old and frail, and drive away thousands of captives. Ukrainian folk songs reflected the numbing impact of these raids: "This night at midnight, before the cocks had crowed The Tatars flew like the wind into our village This night at midnight, an evil came to pass 2 When the wild Turkic band plundered all our land." A single Tatar invasion destroyed the whole labor of the soil-tiller, meadows and wheat- fields were trodden down by horses or destroyed by flame, habitations were reduced to the ground, and people were slaughtered or driven off into captivity together with their cattle. The captives were dragged away to be sold as slaves in the Crimean port ofKaffa, 1 Subtelny, Ukraine: A History, p. 105 2 Berezovsky, Istoria Ukrainu v Narodnih Dumah ta Pisnyah, p. 63 3 a city referred to by Ukrainians as "the vampire that drinks the blood ofRus' ." Sturdy boys were sold into training for Turkish janissary corps, strong men were to serve a lifetime chained to an oar of a Mediterranean galley, and young women were to enrich a khan's harem. It was a land of terror, which desperately needed warlike people who were strong in their unity and trained to fight. Cossacks later became such a warlike people. In the 16th century, inhabitants of western Ukrainian lands were under direct jurisdiction of the Polish government and oppression by Polish szlachta (Polish term for nobility) and the Jewish leaseholders. The oppressive conditions and mythology of Ukrainian freedom attracted rebellious individuals to the steppe, who preferred the dangers of frontier life to serfdom. They were also attracted by slobody, free of obligation land, given out by Polish magnates in their efforts to colonize the depopulated lands of the Dnieper basin. Inhabitants of the newly colonized regions grew bolder, more self­ reliant and more militarily skilled than their western counterparts, since the first ones often had to plow their lands with muskets at their sides in case of Tatar attack. Their children, who had never known serfdom, grew up believing that they were free men who owed no obligations to anyone. Frontiersmen were not uncommon in early modem Eastern Europe. Cossacksom developed along the Don River in Russia as well as along the Dnieper in Ukraine. Roughly analogous social groups evolved in Hungary, Croatia and other Christian land on the unsettled frontier with the Ottoman Empire. But nowhere did these peripheral classes come to play such a central role in their respective societies, as did the Cossacks in Ukraine. The Polonization of the Ukrainian elite drew Ukrainian Cossacks into a role .L _ 4 that was fulfilled elsewhere by the nobles. Consequently, the Cossacks became a key figure not only in the history ofUkraine, but also in Ukrainian national consciousness.3 A new class of Cossack-frontiersmen, composed of refugees and renegades, emerged. Cossacks, who settled at the Dnieper basin (Zaporozhians) dealt primarily with attacks of Crimean Tatars. Later formed Don and Kazan Cossacks (Russian Cossacks) fought against Astrahan and Kazan Tatar Khanates.4 Initially the Cossacks concentrated on pushing back the Tatars. But as they whetted their military and organizational skills and won ever more impressive victories against the Tatars and their Ottoman Turkish overlords, Cossacks became not only champions against the Muslim threat, but also defenders against the oppression of the Polish szlachta. 3 Subtelny, Ukraine: A History, p. 9 4 Longworth, The Cossacks, pp. 12-13 5 Chapter Two: Zaporozhian Cossacks Origin of the name "Cossacks" is debatable. Many historical sources suggest that the word came from the Turkish kazak of gazzag, meaning free warrior or vagrant. 5 Indeed, the first people to be systematically called Cossacks were Tatars, renegades from 1 the Khan's armies, who in the 15 h century were hired by Lithuanian and Muscovite rulers, or who robbed independently. Yet by 1493 the Crimean Khan used the term to apply to Ruthenians who, in the service of Lithuanian Prince Glinsky, attacked a Turkish fortress. 6 According, to Hrushevsky, the name Cossack had originated among the steppe people and was used to describe one who lived on booty. At first it was applied chiefly to nomadic Tatars, but was later transferred to Ukrainian freebooters.7 Cossacks were first evident to observers as frontier fighters. Beginning with the sacking of Kiev in 1482 by the Crimean Tatars, early Cossacks built a chain of forts to guard the borders. In 1492 the Crimean Khan complained that the Ruthenians had seized a Tatar ship, and the Lithuanian Grand Duke Alexander promised to make an investigation regarding the seizure. In 1499 charter of Kiev Cossacks were described